Zimmerman School collection

Collection – Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-0788

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

The Zimmerman School Collection features artifacts, books, documents, and photographs documenting rural education in Center Township, Wood County, Ohio in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dates

Creation: Majority of material found within 1879 to 1998

Extent

1.28 Cubic Feet (1 carton)

1 Items (1 plank of wood)

Scope and Contents

The Zimmerman School Collection has a small gathering of artifacts, books, documents, and photographs from over the years. The collection consists of an elementary arithmetic book, an 1838 intellectual arithmetic book, a word book, an 1890 school geography book, and fourteen cardboard farm animals with descriptions on back. The collection also provides photographs of school classes and teachers from 1910 to 1925, photographs of the Zimmerman family and home, and information on the school from inception to its ownership by the Wood County Park District. An interesting feature of this collection is the inclusion of original parts of the schoolhouse. It has a piece of floorboard, some wood trim, two door hinges, a printing plate, and an oversized piece of wood signed and dated 1892 from the original school.

Biographical / Historical

The Zimmerman school is a post-Civil War America one-room schoolhouse built in 1892 and named for Daniel and Emma Jane Zimmerman, who first taught area children out of their home and then opened their own school in 1875. The existing building is the third school on site after a fire destroyed the first wooden school and the second was moved to make room for the bigger brick building. Used as a school from 1892 to 1923, children were taught arithmetic, reading, spelling, and writing. Situated in independent local school districts around Bowling Green, Ohio, the school promoted a democratic ethic and strong American community life.

The schoolhouse has been restored and is currently owned by the Wood County Park District and was moved to the Carter Historic Farm property in 2015 to give the school a new foundation and easier access for school fieldtrips and tour groups. The Carter daughters Marguerite, Marcella, and Gertrude attended the nearby school in the early nineteen-teens. The Zimmerman Schoolhouse was in operation until 1923, when it was replaced through Ohio’s school consolidation efforts.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.